CHICAGO, IL - December 12, 2006 - Chicago high school students will soon have the opportunity to attend a school that will prepare them for college while providing immediately marketable technology-related skills. Strengthened with a grant of one-half million dollars, which was announced today by CME Trust. Perspectives Charter Schools, will open the Calumet School of Technology in August 2007.

Perspectives, which operates one of the oldest Charter Schools in Chicago, opened a second Charter School - Calumet Charter School, on the campus of Calumet High School in September of this year. A second school for the site - the Calumet School of Technology - was approved by the Chicago Board of Education in May, While the new school will focus on technology, both by offering specialized year long courses in various aspects of technology and integrating technology into the overall math, history, science and English curricula, the Calumet School of Technology will maintain the "Disciplined Life" philosophy and approach to learning that is the imprimatur of the Perspectives Charter School Family.

"We are delighted that CME Trust chose Perspectives and our technology high school as grant recipients," said Perspectives president and co-founder Diana Shulla-Cose. "We believe the grant represents both recognition of the strength of Perspectives track record - where more than 90% of our students continue on to college, and an affirmation of our decision to bring college-prep, technological education to the heart of the city."

While like all Perspective Charter Public Schools, admission is by lottery and open to all Chicago residents, 75% of all students will be drawn from the surrounding Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.

Shulla-Cose said preparations for the September opening are already well underway. Future co-principals, Christina Page and Tony Pajakowski were hired as Leaders in Training in July, giving them a year to prepare for the opening of the school. Pajakowski comes with over 12 years experience in technology education, including serving as the director of e-Learning for Chicago Public Schools and recently completed his principal residency with New Leaders for New Schools. Page taught as a Teach For America corps member on the Chicago's West side, and most recently served as assistant principal for Chicago International Charter Schools. At present they are hard at work on teacher recruitment, hiring and curriculum development. "With this incredible support from the CME, continued planning and the right people in place, we're excited to work with the Auburn Gresham community to make a real difference in the education of their kids." said Chief Education Officer and Co-founder Kim Day. "Ideally, we would love to have this kind of partnership for every Perspectives school."

In announcing their grant, CME Trust joins Ernst & Young, LLP and Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLC in investing in the Calumet campus, who provide not only financial support, but have encouraged their staffs to be active volunteers with Perspectives students over the past year.

Next fall Perspectives will operate three separate schools at the former Calumet High School, which stopped accepting freshman in 2004 and will graduate its last class this year. This year Perspectives is serving 280 seventh and ninth grade students at the Calumet campus with over 100 students on a waiting list, as the last 500 Calumet High School students prepare to graduate this spring. Perspectives will operate three distinct small schools within the Calumet facilities, a middle school and two high schools, one of which will be the School of Technology.

"Perspectives Charter Schools - Calumet School of Technology will successfully differentiate our community by establishing the Auburn Gresham community as an urban neighborhood on the cutting edge of digital inclusion in Chicago," said Carlos Nelson, Executive Director of the Greater Auburn Gresham Community Development Corporation.

About Perspectives Charter Schools

Perspectives Charter Schools is a growing network of high performing Chicago Public Schools. Chartered in 1997 as one of the first five charter schools in Chicago, Perspectives has earned its national reputation as a model of how a small school with innovative, effective education can transform urban schooling. Perspectives maintains an environment of academic rigor, high achievement, A Disciplined Life and "college for certain." Perspectives has a strong record of helping more than 90 percent of graduates become accepted to colleges around the country and consistently keeping those students in college. As part of Renaissance 2010, Perspectives plans to open ten new campuses throughout the city. Current campuses include: South Loop and Calumet.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Trust was established by CME in 1969, under the direction of its chairman, to provide financial protection to customers in the event a CME member firm became insolvent or unable to meet its obligations to its customers. However, no CME customer has ever suffered losses due to a member's adverse financial condition. In 2005, the CME Trust received approval to distribute the net income of the Trust to public